


The Last Fall

by Spannah339



Category: Dragonriders of Pern - Anne McCaffrey
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-22
Updated: 2017-03-22
Packaged: 2018-10-09 01:43:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10400913
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spannah339/pseuds/Spannah339
Summary: Finally, after years of fighting the Thread, the final fall has arrived. According to Avias, this will be the last in the history of Pern.But this victory is dampened by sadness.





	

S'rome, Weyr leader of Bendon Weyr, glanced over the gathered riders, dragons, werylings and Weyr folk. His hand was resting on the bronze shoulder of his dragon, Lainth.

" _Are Ruth and Father coming?"_ he asked silently.

 _"Ruth says he would not miss it for anything,"_ the bronze replied.

_"We can wait for them then."_

Suddenly, a dragon appeared, startling white against the blue sky. He bellowed a greeting and circled down.

"S'rome!" his rider, the Lord Jaxome of Ruatha, greeting, raising his arm. "You waited."

"Of course we did," S'rome replied, grinning.

"How's F'lar?" Jaxome asked of the old wyerleader . S'rome frowned.

"Quite put out that he has to miss the last Fall. But Mnementh is too weak to ride."

Jaxome nodded,  
"I'll visit him after the Fall. And Lessa?"

S'rome shook his head.   
"I don't think she'll last," he said sadly. "Ramoth is almost yellow." He sighed. "I dunno if they'll even last the Fall."

"Well," Jaxome said, "Let's fly this Fall. The final fall of Pern!"

S'rome nodded and mounted Lainth. Beside him, his Wyerwoman, Tarra, mounted her gold, Doranth.

The queen dragon, Doranth, gave the word, and the wings of Bendon lifted off the ground to cheers from the Wyer folk, and some grumbling from the wyerlings, annoyed that they would never fly Thread.

They hovered in the air, then vanished _between._ The freezing cold and nothingness lasted only a few seconds before they appeared over the Bitra Hold.

To S'rome's surprise, there were already many dragons in the skies.

 _"Are all the Weyrs here?"_ he asked in astonishment.

 _"Only Southern is not,"_ Lainth reported after a poise.

 _"No one wants to miss the last fall huh?"_ S'rome said with a chuckle.

As they spoke, wings of dragons appeared from _between._ K'ven on his Heth in the lead. He raised a hand in greeting to the assembled riders and pointed east.

There was the cloud, dropping the mindless Thread that would eat everything living in its path. The dragons let out a huge roar that momentarily defended their riders, and turned their heads to receive the fire stone that would allow them to breathe fire.

For a moment, all was silent apart from the crunching of rock being chewed, then the Thread was on them.   
If the artificial intelligence, Avias, was right, then this would be the last Fall ever. No more would Thread fall every two hundred turns, each Pass lasting for fifty before it ended for another two hundred.

The smallest dragons, the greens, flew high, blasting the thread from the sky. S'rome saw Miriam on her green Path, still fighting despite being in her sixtieth turn.

Then a blue passed his path, chasing down a clump of Thread. The blues were slightly larger than the greens but smaller than all the others.

F'nor, F'lar's half brother, flew past on his Canth, the brown dragon blazing fire.

The bronze dragons where the largest males, and the Weyrleader's mounts. S'rome saw his Wingsecond, a bronze rider called G'trom, vanish between as his dragon, Flirth, was scored.

Down below, catching the missed Threads, flew the queens. The great golden dragons were the largest of all, and couldn't flame. Their riders each held a flamethrower, and she was in charge of searing Thread from the sky.

Then there was Ruth, the smallest of all the dragons, and the only white one. Lord Jaxome, S'rome's father, flew him. They were everywhere, jumping in and out of _between_ , helping those who needed help.

S'rome had to focus on the job at hand as Lainth blinked _between_ to avoid being scored.

When they came back, S'rome was focused, giving Lainth Firestone when he needed it, and pointing out clumps of Thread.

He lost track of time and was so focused he barely noticed he had been scored. He was rather surprised when the Thread stopped.

Looking around the riders assembled, he grinned.

"Thread is over, Lainth, Thread is over!" he cried.

But the bronze wasn't listing. He was crooning a sorrowful song that all the dragons were echoing. It was the song dragons sang at the passing of one of their kind.

"Who died, Lainth! Shards, tell me!" S'rome shouted.

 _"The Bendon Queen passed_ between _,"_ Lainth replied, sorrow in his voice.

Ramonth. That meant that Lessa had died. When a rider died, their dragons, so overcome by sorrow, went _between_ to die.

"We need to go back," S'rome cried.

_"We shall."_

When they returned to Bendon Weyr, there was a large bustling and people running everywhere.

"Take me to F'lar," S'rome said, and Lainth nodded, heading to the old Weyrleader's weyr.

F'lar was sitting on the bed, his head bowed and ignoring everyone. He was clasping the hand of the tiny Weyrwoman, Lessa.

He looked up and S'rome entered, and the younger man could see tears flowing down his face.

"F'lar, I'm sorry," S'rome said, not sure what to do.

"You've been scored. Tend to you and your dragon." Then F'lar turned his head to look at Lessa.

S'rome nodded and left, going to find some numbweed.

After he had spread numbweed over his and Lainth's scores, he found some food to eat. Then, exhausted, he fell into his bed.

He was woken late that night by the low humming of the dragons. Lainth was awake, and staring out of the weyr.

Tarra shifted beside him.

"Mnementh," she whispered.

"F'lar!" S'rome cried, throwing the covers off him. He rushed to F'lar's weyr, only to see it empty.

 _"Lainth? What happened?"_ he asked. The dragon was quiet, asking Doranth.

 _"F'lar and Mnementh passed_ between _together,"_ he said at last.

S'rome bowed his head. Thread may be gone, but F'lar and Lessa were too.


End file.
